Charambira and
Chademana, the headmaster of Victoria Junior Primary School, confirmed to
The Standard that they would start campaigning once they got the green light
from Zanu PF.

The party banned campaigning until election dates were
announced.

Chademana is linked to a faction sympathetic to Vice-President
Joice Mujuru, while Charambira is said to be close to Defence minister
Emmerson Mnangagwa’s camp.

Former Masvingo governor, Dzikamai
Mavhaire is linked to the Mujuru camp and another ex-governor and
Chivi-Mwenezi Senator, Josiah Hungwe to the Mnangagwa faction.

Zanu
PF has dispatched its politburo members and other senior officials to
mobilise support in the country’s districts ahead of next year’s
elections.

Battle for Masvingo North brewingcommenting on the
electoral contest in Masvingo North, Chademana said, “It will be a mammoth
task. I am certain Marapira and Charambira are also interested, while other
dark horses are also said to be waiting for the dates to be
announced.”

“As of now, the election criterion has not yet been set, so
we are all aspiring Zanu PF candidates.”

Charambira was also upbeat
about his chances.

“Democracy will be at play. But my chances are great.
So the people will speak once campaigning starts,” he said.

Harare
City Council attaches residents’ properties

Harare City Council last week attached household goods from several
residents for failing to pay rates.

REPORT BY JENNIFER
DUBE

Some of the residents now fear they could lose their
houses.

A messenger of court last week swooped on the defaulting
residents in Rugare and Kuwadzana high-density suburbs, attaching everything
from fans to sofas.

“They sent me a letter of final demand last week and
my son went to talk to officials at the city treasury department, where he
was given up to today to pay US$100,” Eveline Njazi of Rugare said on
Friday.

“But the messenger of court came yesterday (Thursday) and
attached our household goods.”

She added: “My son only got the money
later in the day and when he went to the council offices today he was told
that the property can only be released after payment of
US$350.”

Njazi owes the city council US$1 050,80 in unpaid
rates.

The messenger of court attached a four-piece sofa set, a room
divider, a kitchen table, two fans, a carpet and a heater.

The
50-year-old widow said she now lived in fear of eviction from the house,
together with her two unemployed sons.

Her only source of income is
the National Railways of Zimbabwe’s Widows’ Pension Fund, which pays her an
average of US$13 per month after bank charges.

“We are just living in
this house, but we are no different from those who have been evicted,” Njazi
said.

“There is no one who wants to access somebody’s services for free,
but we do not have the money”.

She said her family had no way of
raising the money and was waiting to hear from the council, if what it
attached tallied with the debt.

Several other residents in the suburb
also received letters of final demand last week and were running around
sourcing money so that they could pay.

“I owe them US$500 and they sent
me a letter last week,” a man who identified himself only as Gidza
said.

“We have tenants renting some rooms in the house, but what we
realise from the rent is not adequate for our day-to-day needs, so how can
we prioritise paying for water which we sometimes go for months without.
It’s unfair.”

Move unwise: MazorodzeMazorodze said it was
disheartening that the attached properties were being sold for a
song.

One woman’s deep freezer, which was attached over a US$1 000 plus
debt, was allegedly sold for US$64, he said.Efforts to get a comment
from Council spokesperson, Leslie Gwindi, were futile.

But Rugare
councillor, Peter Moyo, raised the issue at a full council meeting on
Thursday, expressing shock that people in his ward were having their
property attached without a council resolution.

Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda,
whose name appears in some of the summons seen by The Standard, told the
meeting that he had not authorised the attachments.

The attachment of
residents’ properties come at a time when the local authority is failing to
provide basic social services such as clean water, collection of refuse,
maintenance of roads or traffic lights.

Chaos
on Harare streets

TRAFFIC lights in most
parts of Harare’s central business district (CBD) are not working, making it
a nightmare for both pedestrians and motorists.

REPORT BY TAWANDA
MARWIZI

As a result, they are forced to negotiate dangerously through
congested streets, especially during rush hours.

The absence of
functional traffic lights in the CBD has resulted in numerous accidents and
traffic jams.

Motorists who spoke to The Standard blasted the Harare City
Council for failing to repair traffic lights.

“Traffic lights at
corner (Nelson) Mandela and Fourth Street have not been working for close to
two weeks now. I am surprised that the authorities are doing nothing,” said
one motorist, Tawanda Dendedza.

Another motorist, Anna Meki, who was
involved in an accident last week at the corner of Samora Machael Avenue and
Sam Nujoma, said she was shocked to find out that traffic lights near the
President’s office were also not working.

President Robert Mugabe’s
offices are housed at the nearby Munhumutapa Building.

“I was
involved in an accident because of the confusion there. the robots were not
working,” said Meki.

Harare City Council spokesperson, Leslie Gwindi,
said the council was working to rectify the problem.

“It has come to
our attention that there are some traffic lights that are not working, but
we are looking into it,” said Gwindi.

Police’s traffic spokesperson,
Tigere Chigome, would not comment.

Motorists fear the situation could get
worse with the onset of the rainy season.

Zanu
PF sharpens daggers against dissenting voices

THE on-going arrests and intimidation of President Robert Mugabe’s
political rivals and civil rights activists by State security agents is a
precursor to worst things to come as the country prepares for elections next
year, observers have said.

REPORT BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE

They
said it has become a norm that towards elections, the country experiences an
upsurge in political violence and arrests of those critical of Zanu PF and
Mugabe’s administration.

The observation comes following last week’s
arrest of three key staffers of the Counselling Services Unit (CSU), a
registered medical clinic that provides counselling and referral services to
victims of trauma.

The three are accused of spraying some MDC graffiti on
an information centre in Bulawayo last month in contravention of the
Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.

The Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU) described the arrests as driven by “paranoia” as the
unit provides medical counselling care for victims of police brutality and
political violence.

The union warned of more arrests as dates for
elections, which Mugabe insists would be held in March next year, draw
near.

“This incident is a forerunner of more shocking raids, arrests,
intimidation and detentions that are to follow as the country gets ready for
elections in 2013,” said ZCTU secretary-general Japhet Moyo.

“This is
not only an attack on the CSU but also an attack on the broader human right
defenders network because within that network, CSU has been doing sterling
work in providing medical and counselling care for victims of police
brutality and political violence.”

The unit assisted several victims of
political violence in the 2008 elections. The MDC-T claims that at least 500
of its supporters were killed by Zanu PF and State security agents during
that time.

Several MDC-T activists were also arrested on allegations
ranging from perpetrating violence to petrol-bombing police stations but
most of the cases crumbled like a deck of cards in the courts.

The
last few months have seen several raids and arrests of human rights
activists, journalists and MDC-T officials.

Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO
Forum director, Abel Chikomo has since last year been a victim of harassment
by law enforcement agents. He was charged of leading an unregistered
organisation.

The State withdrew the charges but said they would continue
by way of summons.

Political analysts said Chikomo, like other human
rights defenders, was on the radar of the State security agents because his
organisation has been assisting victims of organised violence, including
those of political violence.

“If you look at it, security agents only
target those organisations or people who were or are helping victims of
political violence,” said one analyst.

“These arrests are political
and they will definitely increase as we head for elections. He (Mugabe) is
sharpening his daggers.”

In August, more than 20 police officers raided
the Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (Galz) office in Harare and
confiscated computers, digital versatile discs, pamphlets, compact discs and
various documents.

The officers claimed that GALZ was in “possession of
pamphlets and fliers with information that promotes homosexuality for
distribution”.

Mugabe, who of late has been preaching peace and
co-existence, is against homosexuals and has previously labelled them as
“worse than pig and dogs”.

In 2008, another human rights activist Jestina
Mukoko, who heads the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was abducted and tortured by
State security agents because her organisation was documenting cases of
rights abuse across the country.

She is now suing the
State.

Mugabe’s political rivals in the coalition government have not
been spared.

A fortnight ago, Elton Mangoma, MDC-T deputy
treasurer-general and minister of Energy and Power Development in the
inclusive government, was summoned to attend court in Bindura on charges of
insulting the President.

Several other officials are facing the same
charge.

“What is unsettling is that the arrests come at a time when the
inclusive government should be working hard on improving critical reforms
before the country goes for the referendum and elections in 2013,” said the
MDC-T in a statement.

“It is an affront to democracy and we call for
an immediate end to these illegal acts by the State and Zanu PF.”

US
embassy in Harare shocked by arrestsThe United Sates Embassy in Harare was
equally shocked by the arrests.

It said there was a worrying trend in
Zimbabwe of deploying security agents to threaten political activists and
those who provided support to victims of intimidation and abuse.

“In
the lead up to national elections, the United States looks to the government
of Zimbabwe to ensure that all security sector leaders and groups strictly
follow President Mugabe’s call for non-violence; and that they also follow a
policy of non-interference in democratic processes, including no harassment,
intimidation, or hints of retribution,” said the Embassy in a statement.

“To the residents, the
nullification of the rates which were introduced in September 2011 means
that Zesa has to recalculate the bills that were overcharged and credit the
accounts of residents that were affected,” he said.

“If for any
reason, Zesa fails to implement the Administrative Court’s decision, then
the HRT will have no option but to take the matter to the courts seeking
legal redress. Alternatively, being the most popular route for residents,
widespread demonstrations targeting Zesa will be undertaken with the
objective of forcing Zesa Holdings to comply with the law.”

HRT has handled 987 cases since the beginning of the year,
up from 400 cases last year.

Combined Harare Residents Association
(CHRA) chairman Simbarashe Moyo said the administrative court ruling was a
clear testimony of how difficult life was for residents.

“Zesa’s
inconsistencies have prejudiced residents for a long time,” Moyo said.
“First there was the estimated billing, then the US$30 and US$40 set by
government for high and low density suburbs respectively.

He added: “Then
came the era of unjustifiably high tariffs which turn out to be illegal more
than a year down the line.”

Moyo said Zesa must cancel all outstanding
bills and start on a new note based on the prepaid meters they promised to
install.

Zesa last week said it had so far installed 19 000 prepaid
meters countrywide. It assured ratepayers that power woes, would soon be
over as it targets to complete the installation of the meters within 10
months.

Mini-hydro
power station changes lives

MUTARE
SOUTH — Access to modern and cheap energy remains a pipe dream for most
families in the rural areas across the country.

REPORT BY OUR
CORRESPONDENTBut that is now a problem of the past for the rural community
of Chipendeke in Mutare South, which is generating electricity from a
micro-hydro project.

The US$75 000 project, a community initiative
sponsored by a non-governmental organisation, Practical Action Southern
Africa, is designed to improve the lives of people living in rural
areas.

So far at least 400 households, clinics and schools in Chipendeke
— 70km south of Mutare — are already using electricity from the project for
cooking, lighting and even to power their electrical domestic
gadgets.

A recent visit to the area by Standardcommunity revealed that
life had changed for the better for the community following the
commissioning of the project, which has a capacity to generate 25 kilowatts
of energy.

One of the beneficiaries of the project, Misheck Mukundwa (33)
said the venture had assisted the community to raise income to sustain their
families.

“People can now afford to pay fees for their children and
buy food from the sale of produces from the irrigation scheme,” he
said.

A smallholder farmer, Shadreck Mudiwa said the project had enabled
him to boost agricultural production at Chipendeke Irrigation
Scheme.

“The availability of electric power has encouraged us as farmers
to produce more food for the community and for resale in the city,” said
Mudiwa. “We used to incur losses when our perishables turned bad. But now we
can refrigerate them before taking them to the market.”

A local
environmentalist, Brian Makumbe said the introduction of electricity in the
area had reduced environmental degradation as people now used less firewood
for cooking and lighting.

“We really appreciated this kind of initiative
because it brings development and sustainable management of the
environment,” said Makumbe. “We expect villagers to save the forest because
they have an alternative source of energy.”

A nurse at Chipendeke
Clinic said before the advent of electricity, staff at the health centre
used to light candles to enable surgical operations at night.

Storing
drugs was also a major challenge.

“We can now operate at night and store
our medicines in the refrigerator. The biggest challenge was that of
pregnant mothers who wanted to deliver at night. They had to bring their own
candles,” said a nurse who declined to be named.

A teacher at a local
school, Maxwell Zenda said he expected the pass rate in schools in the area
to improve as students would now have enough time to study and prepare for
exams at night.

Clinics and schools pay US$0,10 per kilowatt while
business and households pay US$0,32 and US$0,15 respectively for the
electricity.

Business entities pay more because they derive profit from
the project.

The project has also created employment for the
locals.

A team of villagers was trained in managing the vending system,
installation of prepaid meters and updating database for users and
electrical components.

Improving access to modern energy servicesThe
Chipendeke project is part of a five-year regional micro-hydro project
called Catalysing Modern Energy Service Delivery to Marginal Communities in
Southern Africa.

The main aim is to improve access to modern energy
services and increase uptake of renewable energy technologies.

The
project seeks to remove the policy, technical and institutional barriers
that limit the development and use of renewable energy sources to meet the
energy needs of poor, off-grid communities.

According to Practical
Action, access to electricity in rural areas in southern Africa remains low
with Malawi on 0,05%, Mozambique 0,7% and Zimbabwe 19%.

Tower
lights turned into base stations

CHITUNGWIZA — Residents here have expressed outrage over the local
authority’s decision to allow telecommunication companies to turn tower
lights into base stations.

REPORT BY FARAI DAURAMANZI

They
said the arrangement deprived them of street lighting at night, leaving them
at the mercy of criminals who terrorised their suburbs.

Chitungwiza
council is renting out the tower lights to telecommunication companies as
part of efforts to raise revenue.Residents however, are complaining that
boosters are now the dominant feature in the town, yet most neighbourhoods
remain in the dark.

They queried the logic behind entering into a deal
which did not force the telecoms companies to repair street
lights.

One of the residents who identified himself as Chris Vancols of
Zengeza 1 said: “While we are not against progress, council should have
insisted these companies repair tower lights as part of their rental
arrangement.”

Vancols operates a secondhand goods market near a
dysfunctional tower light that has been converted into a base station.He
cannot operate at night because of lack of lighting.

Econet rehabilitates
towers: MakuniKezito Makuni, the technical director for Econet said the use
of the towers was part of their infrastructure sharing policy.

“Once
Econet gets authorisation to use a particular tower, we completely
rehabilitate it. This includes making repairs to the lighting. While
maintenance however falls on councils, Econet continues to supply lighting
materials for the towers,” said Makuni.

“For using the towers, Econet
pays rentals to urban councils, which they in turn use to fund service
delivery to our communities, including supply of lighting.”

Shame
Gurure (32) of Unit O in Seke said council must channel the money they get
from renting out tower lights to repairing the lighting structures for the
benefit of the community.

“Council should repair tower lights since they
are now renting them out, where is the money going?” asked
Gurure.

The residents attributed increased cases of muggings and robbery
in Chitungwiza to the absence of tower lights as robbers take advantage of
the darkness.

“It’s good that these base stations will improve
network coverage but without any lighting we will continue losing cell
phones or worse still, our lives,” said a man who identified himself as
Masvikepi of Unit M in Seke.

It could not be established how much the
companies were paying for the tower lights.

Telecel communication and
branding manager Obert Mandimika said the exercise was part of efforts to
improve service delivery.

“We placed our equipment as part of measures to
speed up out turnaround time in terms of reaching out to subscribers and
council has approved it,” he said.

He said arrangements were being
made to restore the functionality of the tower lights as part of the
company’s social responsibility.

Newly-appointed Chitungwiza Town Clerk,
George Makunde said he did not have details of the deal and promised to make
inquiries.

“It’s normal procedure for council to rent out its property,”
said Makunde.

“However, I am still to be briefed on the contents of the
deal between council and telecommunication companies.”

Peace
returns to Domboshava

PEACE and
tranquillity have since returned to Chinamhora community in Domboshava,
which was recently hogged by a series of murders that disrupted the locals’
economic and social life.

REPORT BY BY WELLINGTON
ZIMBOWA

Christopher Chidziva, who is reigning Chief Chinamhora,
attributed the return of peace to efforts by the church in the
community.

Addressing thousands of the African Apostolic Church
congregants at Domboshava Showgrounds last week, Chief Chinamhora said they
had to seek divine intervention following a spate of murders in his
area.

“As you know, in the previous months the Chinamhora community was
befallen by a spate of murders that saw fear gripping the area,” said Chief
Chinamhora.

“At the height of the killings, I phoned ‘Mudzidzisi’
[Paul Mwazha] requesting him to come and pray over the issue but he assured
me he would come at a later time but would pray from where he was. I am glad
today we have regained our peace and everything has returned to
normalcy.”

The African Apostolic Church is led by Archbishop
Mwazha.

Last week’s church gathering was attended by worshippers from
Harare, Chitungwiza and surrounding areas who heeded a call by the local
leadership to converge for prayers over the gruesome murder incidences in
Domboshava.

Over 300 people, most of them locals, attended the church
service.

One headman Murapi also thanked the church for ensuring that
peace and harmony returned to the area.

“We have been engaging
Christians from different denominations and a few weeks ago we held prayer
sessions with leaders from local churches and we are really grateful for the
support given during the difficult period,” he said.

Six men were in
September murdered in Domboshava, five of them using the same method,
raising suspicions that a gang of dangerous criminals was on the
prowl.

The five, four of them murdered as they left Showgrounds business
centre, were believed to have been hit with blunt objects on their heads
while their bodies had bruises.

As panic gripped the area, social and
economic activities were disrupted as nightclubs and shops closed early for
fear of the murderers.

This led the police to beef up security in the
area and intensify night patrols.

Blessing Kunaka and Joshua Chibonda
have since appeared before a Harare magistrate facing three charges of
murder, one of attempted murder and two of armed robbery.

An alleged
accomplice, Dirayi Chibhobhoribho was said to be on the run.

Gono told
stakeholders attending the Zimbabwe Independent Banks and Banking Survey
meeting last week that out of the offshore facilities worth US$2 billion
approved by the External Loans and Coordinating Committee (ELCC), only
US$899 million has been drawn down since the beginning of the year.

“. .
. against such low utilisation levels of 42% realised this year to date, the
country will continue to face persistent liquidity challenges,” Gono
said.

Gono said notable issues that have affected utilisation levels
include facilitation fees, deposit requirements and various legal aspects,
which sometimes take up to six months to be fulfilled.

Zimbabwe is
facing liquidity challenges and has failed to get lines of credit from
multilateral financial institutions.

The situation has been complicated
by the inability of the central bank to print money under the multi-currency
environment.

Gono said under the auspices of the multiple currency
system, major sources of liquidity and broad money for the Zimbabwean
economy, comprised export earning, diaspora remittances, offshore lines of
credit, foreign direct investment and portfolio inflows.

“To the
extent that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has not been issuing currency under
the multiple currency system, there is need to ensure that these streams of
foreign currency inflows continue to meaningfully contribute to liquidity
levels in the economy,” Gono said.

Under the multi-currency environment,
RBZ is a bystander, as it cannot intervene in a crisis.

Central banks
in Europe have been able to intervene in the euro crisis by using or
adjusting their monetary policies through introducing austerity measures as
and when needed.

An austerity measure is an official action taken by
governments through central banks in order to reduce the amount of money
that it spends or the amount that people spend.

This ultimately has
an effect on the liquidity position of a country’s financial
markets.

RBZ rendered ineffectiveWithout the ability to control a
country’s monetary policy and implement it, RBZ is ineffective in
introducing austerity measures when needed.

“Determining a monetary
policy and implementing it, is at the core of any central bank and for as
long as we don’t have a local currency, RBZ will always have limited impact
in the smooth operations of financial markets in Zimbabwe,” an investment
banker said.

“The best RBZ can do now is being a regulator of our local
financial markets, but a regulator without ability to introduce relevant
instruments to ensure smooth operations of our financial markets, in case
they are needed, is weak. And only through a monetary policy are you able to
intervene effectively.”

Inaugural
Diamond Conference opens

THE inaugural
Diamond Conference opens in Victoria Falls tomorrow as Zimbabwe plans to tap
knowledge on how it can harness diamond resources.

REPORT BY OUR
STAFF

This comes at a time the country is exporting rough diamonds, which
means that it is exporting labour to various countries, notably
India.

Prince Mupazviriho, Mines and Mining Development permanent
secretary, told Standardbusiness on Friday the conference was meant to
gather ideas on how the country could develop the industry, having attained
Kimberley Process compliance.

“The conference will look at how we
develop the industry, having attained compliance. We will share information
on how we can develop our own systems,” he said.

Mupazviriho said
the conference would help the country on how it can complement the Diamond
Policy.

The conference will bring together key stakeholders in the
industry, that include officials from the World Diamond Council and Antwerp
Diamond Centre, among others.

Zimbabwe mines diamonds from Murowa and
the resource-rich Marange fields.

Four companies — Marange Resources,
Mbada, Diamond Mining Corporation and Anjin —are mining on concessions in
Marange, which are owned by the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation
(ZMDC).

ZMDC wholly owns Marange Resources and is in a 50-50 joint
venture with other partners in DMC and Mbada. A Chinese consortium is
operating with the army in Anjin.

Diamond revenue was expected to
plug the gap and was projected to reach US$600 million this
year.

Minister Tendai Biti has been accusing diamond producers of not
remitting to the fiscus.

Diamond producers and the Ministry of Mines
say sanctions have had an effect on the prices of diamonds and hence are
affecting revenue.

Budget
expected to revive industry

FINANCE
minister Tendai Biti presents the last national budget of the inclusive
government on Thursday, amid expectations he would provide the stimulus
needed for the manufacturing sector that has recorded a dip in capacity
utilisation.

REPORT BY NDAMU SANDU

A survey released by the
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) last week showed that for the
first time since the use of multi-currencies, capacity utilisation had gone
down to 44,2% from the 57,2% recorded last year, painting a gloomy picture
in the outlook.

The survey came after Biti had cut projected growth for
this year to 4% from an earlier forecast of 5,6%.

Analysts said last
week, the dip in capacity utilisation should jolt government into action to
introduce policies that help revive the industry.

James Wadi, chief
economist at regional banking group BancABC, told Standardbusiness the
budget should provide ways to revive the manufacturing industry, “given what
it has said”.

He said while industry required money, some of its
requirements were non-monetary, such as the provision of an environment
conducive to attract investors.

Wadi said government had to honour
Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (Bippas), so as to
unlock the external lines of credit needed to boost the economy.

“We
have to honour that and the moment we start acting otherwise it sends wrong
signals to investors,” he said.

The local manufacturing sector is beset
by a string of challenges, notably power outages and ageing equipment that
has pushed up the cost of production, meaning local products are more
expensive compared to imports.

Zimbabwe has become a supermarket economy,
with imports flooding the shops.

Exports for most commodities have been
reduced and as a result, the economy is not generating foreign currency
receipts.

Regrettably, imports continue to increase thereby widening the
trade gap. The little money generated locally would go to imports, starving
other sectors of the economy of funding needed for revival.

“This remains key in the meaningful
attraction of both domestic and foreign direct investment into key
productive and export sectors of the economy in a manner that improves the
competitiveness of domestically produced goods and services,” Gono
said.

Gono said the “country’s import dependency syndrome must be shed
off through the implementation of comprehensive structural policies that
promote the resuscitation of domestic industrial production”.

“This
would assist in bridging attendant supply gaps that have sustained the
importation of finished goods largely from South Africa and the Far East,”
Gono said.

Biti has in the past indicated that he would increase some
taxes as way of generating more revenue.

However, analysts say, there
are some low-hanging fruits that can be harnessed to raise more revenue for
the economy. “We have porous borders and why should we not automate?” Wadi
asked, adding that the same could be done on tollgates.

He said
automation would remove the human intervention and there was an assurance
that the money would come.

In its submissions, CZI said there were high
levels of corruption at border posts, especially at Beitbridge and the long
transit times spent obtained a hamstrung to trade.

Wadi said such a
mismatch was not unique to Zimbabwe but obtains in other countries in the
region. However, Wadi said other countries had managed to raise offshore
financing for infrastructure.

Under
Mugabe: Robin Hammond Records the Suffering of Zimbabwe

Impoverished
people living near Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, made a home from an
empty plot of wasteland. Their previous dwelling was destroyed in Operation
Murambatsvina.

In December 2011 Robin Hammond, then a
neighbor of mine in Cape Town, arrived in Zimbabwe for what he’d planned as his
longest trip yet to a country, and a story, he knew well – several months
documenting that country’s decline. There are worse places in Africa and there
are plenty of uplifting stories to be had in Zimbabwe. But in the context of the
stunning progress Zimbabwe achieved in its first decade of independence, its
collapse over the next two is nonetheless remarkable – and the main reason Robin
has covered the country so extensively since 2007. “There are very few countries
that have fallen as far as fast as Zimbabwe,” says Robin. “These are educated
people with high expectations who are now living in really extreme
poverty.”

For months, living on a grant from
theCarmignac Foundation, Robin worked his way across the country, getting to
know Zimbabweans, living with them, sharing their lives. He discovered a hidden
urban poverty that most journalists, myself included, have missed. “Robert
Mugabe’s only been screwing it up for 20 years, so there are still some
half-decent roads and buildings,” says Robin. “But you get into some of these
places and they’re vertical city slums: no power, no water, no jobs. And the
atmosphere. I’ve been to Congo and Somalia and all those kinds of places but I
don’t think I’ve seen people as scared as the people in
Zimbabwe.”

As Robin discovered, there was good
reason to fear. In March, as he photographed a farm in the east of the country
that had been seized by the regime, he was arrested and held overnight. A few
weeks later in mid-April, he was arrested a second time as he tried to take
pictures of Zimbabwean refugees crossing the Limpopo River into South Africa. In
2007 I did five days in a Zimbabwean prison in the same part of the country.
Robin was held for four weeks. Most of his time was spent in a
five-meter-by-10-meter cell with 37 other inmates. The prisoners had a concrete
floor to sleep on, blankets infested with lice as their only covering, one
toilet between 250 and, for food, slop infested with weevils. Many of his fellow
prisoners had been inside for years. Eventually, Robin was deported. “They did a
pretty good job of making me feel afraid,” he says.

After arriving in London, then
relocating to Paris, Robin began assembling his work. What emerges in these
stunning, fearful pictures, now being published in a book and shown at an
exhibition which opens this week at Chapelle de l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure des
Beaux-Arts in Paris, is an arrestingly original portrait of a country whose
nightmare is far from over. Robin’s pictures lay bare in unprecedented fashion
the depth of Zimbabwe’s destruction and how, for millions, there is no recovery,
nor even much hope of one.

Yet, with a fresh election expected
next year, hope persists. Robin says Zimbabwe has taught him a cruel lesson
about that: how hope might keep you going, but how it can also be dangerous.
Robin learned that for himself in prison. “When you’re told you’re going to be
let out that day, then you have to go back to your cell, that can be really
depressing,” he says. “You have to set your mind to the idea that you could be
there for months.” For Zimbabweans, hope has proved even more perilous, says
Robin. A curiosity of Mugabe’s 32-year rule has been how, even as he plundered
his country, ruined it, and killed and beat his challengers, he has never
extinguished his people’s belief in change. The Zimbabwean President holds
elections, shares power with the opposition and negotiates a theoretical
transition with Zimbabwe’s neighbors. None of these initiatives have come to
anything. But to those who ponder Mugabe’s survival – about why Zimbabweans
haven’t staged a second revolution – Mugabe’s repression provides one answer and
his careful nurturing of hope the other. Even now, says Robin, “Zimbabweans are
eternally optimistic. They always think the next election will be the one to
change their lives.” It is a testament to Robin’s art and courage that the way
those expectations have been so mercilessly – and so deeply and comprehensively
– disappointed has rarely been better captured.

National Geographic Magazine will be
publishing a story next year that will feature the work from this project. The
series will also be on display from Nov. 9 through Dec. 9 at Chapelle de l’Ecole
Nationale Supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris, with an opening reception on Nov.
8.